Hamas govt suspends evacuation of foreigners

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Gaza's Hamas government suspended the evacuation of foreign passport holders to Egypt Saturday after Israel refused to allow some wounded Palestinians to be evacuated to Egyptian hospitals, a border official said.

«No foreign passport holder will be able to leave the Gaza Strip until wounded people who need to be evacuated from hospitals in north Gaza are transported through the Rafah crossing» to Egypt, the official said on condition of anonymity.

An Egyptian security source confirmed to Agence France-Presse that «no wounded person or holder of a foreign passport arrived at the Egyptian terminal» of Rafah on Saturday.

He said the evacuation was suspended «after the bombing of ambulances transporting injured people who were on their way to the Egyptian terminal.»

On Friday, the Israeli army announced it had struck an ambulance outside Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza's largest, saying it was «used by a Hamas terrorist cell.»

At least 15 people were killed and 60 wounded in the strike, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Israel launched a war against Hamas in Gaza following the October 7 attacks which claimed 1,400 lives — mostly civilians — according to Israel.

The Hamas-run health ministry says air, land and sea attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 9,500 Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Thousands demonstrated in Israel on Saturday as pressure mounts on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his government's lack of preparedness for the October 7 attacks and its handling of the ensuing hostage crisis.

The attacks by Gaza's ruling Islamist movement Hamas took the Israeli military and political establishment by surprise and killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, with 240 more taken hostage, according to the army.

In retaliation, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and has mounted a devastating air, ground and sea bombardment followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, where the hostages are believed to be held.

The campaign has killed nearly 9,500 Palestinians, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

In Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv, several thousand protesters took to the streets on Saturday evening, including relatives